CLI – rsync

The rsync command is a utility common to Linux, Unix, BSD and macOS. Versions of rsync are now available on Windows systems as well.

This command is used to synchronize files and directories. This can be done between locally attached storage, or between two different network connected systems. Design of the rsync algorithm minimizes the network usage, while still maintaining file synchronization.

The rsync daemon can be run on a machine to allow other remote machines to copy file to or from it. The rsync command requires arguments indicating the source and destination locations.

There are many different command line options available to rsync. The general format is: rsync options source destination

One of the nice features of rsync is that it only copies files that have changed since the last time they were transferred. Check the reference list at the bottom of this article for suggestions of the best set for your application. Some of the simplest are: